Billionaire Forced Sex on Her, Model Says

NEW YORK (CN) - A model claims an Ecuadorean billionaire banana exporter and politician lured her to Ecuador with an ad on Craigslist, intimidated her into having sex with him and forced her to take the "morning after pill."

The New York-based model claims she responded to a Craigslist job posting seeking a "fit model" in her 30s for a photo shoot in South America for La Verdad, a political and lifestyle publication owned by Alvaro Noboa, Ecuador's richest man and a perennial presidential candidate there.

Cragislist is not named as a defendant in the complaint in New York County Court. The woman, a mother of three, sued Noboa, Grupo Noboa, and La Verdad Magazine. Noboa's corporate holdings include Bonita bananas, according to the complaint.

The woman says one of Noboa's employees hired for a four-day photo shoot in Guayaquil after asking her to send a picture of herself in a bathing suit. Shortly after arriving in Ecuador, she says, she received a dinner invitation from Noboa, who arrived at her hotel with "a large number of men armed with machine guns and other weapons." She says Noboa took her to a private residence surrounded by armed men and immediately told her to go to the bedroom.

"Noboa ordered (her) to lie down on the bed and he began to engage in sex with her while wearing a condom," the lawsuit claims.

She says Naboa bit her several times, giving her painful bruises. She says the condom broke and Noboa became angry and forced her to take what he said was a "morning after pill," which caused cramping and nausea.

"(The plaintiff) felt powerless to resist (Naboa) because she was in a locked bedroom surrounded by armed guards and because it was clear to her that Noboa considered her having sex with him a condition of her employment," according to the complaint.

She says Naboa paid $2,000 for the photo shoot and called her repeatedly after she returned to the United States.

She claims that a month later she returned to Ecuador for a second photo shoot for La Verdad. During that trip, she says, Noboa demanded that she perform oral sex on him in his office while armed guards waited outside. Again, she says, he bit her several times, causing severe bruising on her legs.

She demands $25 million for quid pro quo sexual harassment and hostile workplace. She is represented by Christopher Brennan with Ziegler, Ziegler & Associates.

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